Envelope feeding mechanism



5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 2, 1950 lirllll I l 5r aw' fl7 ATTORNEYS Feb. 5, 1952 A. NOVICK ENVELOPE FEEDING MECHANISM 5 Sheets$heet 2 Filedv Oct. 2, 1950 IIFJTI ll/W. a

ATTORNEYS Feb. 5, 1952 A. NOVlCK ENVELOPE FEEDING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 2, 1950 5) ,Mlzup/f ATTORIVL YJ Feb. 5, 1952 A. NOVICK 2,584,730

ENVELOPE FEEDING MECHANISM File d Oct. 2, 1950 5 Shets-Sheet 4 AT TOR/V5 Y5 Feb. 5, 1952 A. NOVICK ENVELOPE FEEDING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 2, 1950 A T TORNE Z5 st k" q' m idn 1 a r ns r q n te i he nature 'of" an improvement upon the'invention on edge and sa anee amg substantially horizon- Patented Fe). 5, 11952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE "ENVEiZoPnji :jEDING ME CHANISM Abraham Novick; Flushing, N. Y., sinor to LismifheMafihine C0. 1110., NEW Yiil'k, N a'hi ir ipration of New lurk-11: v-

, 1 V o This invention 3 relates to envelopef feeding mechanism xer advanci "e'rfvelo es'fon edge in dis 'os ed and claimedin my copending applicatip I 'Ibi' Lettersflfatel i't offthi'Ufiified states Serial iso'js izjfiledMaicn 11,I94 9,"Which'has tard iretion to aftransfen point at"which' upf 5 If x, e r0 2101i walriily travelingfinge rs e"n's'erted}lietween the roug theEtaE s'eajling nap and. the body hejeading envelope o wirhfl it pnl' h' e m n i 'pwar dni tionfinamaohine 'of this kindfit i important that there always befan envelope o I tq'be carriedfawayby'" trge-engerspe'a se U j f mryfthe e s th o fq rehxi mentalities whiohf'wolrld hefpu'ie Joy he fe'il ire to delivef-an enveldbe. *At' the sainetiir'ie, "howevri-" it-is importantthat the envelopes of the a arrive a fine e et r iP'Qi nle ei rr ma-tion ,='-'o-thata withdrawn' erivelope"wiii not tend to carry along or to disarrang e a following envelope A l, M1." in I I Lil- 7 In the illustrativemachine of s'aid applica'tion, 7 therefore, provision-is-made of hilchanisrn for driving a stack conveyor-at twd difierntspeds, one faster and one slower-than the' avereige sbeed at which thestackought to reach the transfer point order to mamtain the envelope stack 'of the desired density at the transfer point/. 'For controlling the two-speed driving mechanism'a density meter, is provided whichincludsw-means for projecting lightxdiagonally downward across an edge of the stack near thefltransfer PQint; and a photoelectriccell responsive to such lightand effective?!) rm nee ich of th me-s ds the o y r Will he fi v natan ive ins ep-1 In e m d a pe t oi: the in ent o t e/l speed referred to may even be ajerosfieedy 8, stateof rest. j f" 1 v i Ln, In accordance the present invention-the general machine organization may be substantially the Same as t atcrthemustrdtivemachiiie V of said pending application, :but improvements have been effected the densitfi metef. n, ieatiirefloffth pr senfiimfhi ori that 3 advantageous illustrative machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view, on a larger scale, taken upon the line 22 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken upon the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of thearrows;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view showing the density meter and immediately associated parts of the machine; and

Fig. 5 is a view in sectional elevation of the density meter parts as viewed in Fig. 2, but showing the parts spread out from one another.

The illustrative mechanism comprises conveyor chains Ill and N (Fig. 2) which run upon sprockets M (Fig. 1) for carrying individual envelopes upward and through suitable printing mechanism (not shown). The chains are driven at uniform speed by suitable drive mechanism. The chains I6 and II are equipped with inwardly reaching fingers 20 and 2|.

The fingers 20 and 2| are designed to engage at the corners of the leading envelope of a stack 26 between the back and the folded sealing flap of the envelope, and to pick the envelope away from the stack and carry it upward.

The envelope stack 26 is supported upon a two-speed conveyor 3| which carries the envelopes in stack formation toward the transfer point at which they are picked up by the pin conveyor. Sucker shoes 32 are provided in the path of the envelopes at the transfer point to free the leading envelope from the stack and keep the envelopes from becoming accidentally disarranged.

The conveyor 3| comprises a pair of chains 33 and 34 which are guided in channel bars 33a and 34a and run upon sprockets 35 and 36 carried by shaft 31, and upon a *corresponding pair of a sprockets 38, only one being shown, carried by shaft 39. 'The sprockets upon which the chains run are all alike, and they are all mounted in the same way, the construction being illustrated best in connection with the sprocket 36. The sprocket 38 has a hub 36a which is formed with a circumferential groove 36b. The hub 36a is connected'to the shaft 31 through a key 360 which is 'slidably axially of the shaft. A screw 36d extends through the hub and is threaded part way through the key 360, but terminates short of engagement with the shaft 31, so that the sprocket and key are free to slide together axially of the shaft 31. The channel bar 34a has attached to it by means of screw 34c a plate 34f which is formed at one end with an open-ended slot 34g'in which the grooved portion 36b of the hub 36a is received. The channel bar 34a is adjustable laterally of the machine. When the channel bar 34a is so adjusted it carries with it the chain 34 and also the sprocket 36. The construction at the opposite end of the conveyor 3| is the same as that which has been described for the sprocket 34, and hence the channel bar 34a also adjusts one of the sprockets 38 at that end of the conveyor. The sprockets 35 and 38 at the opposite side of the machine are similarly controlled by the channel bar 33a.

The envelopes travel between guide plates 3111 upon which upper and lower guide ribs 31b are provided.

The shaft 31 is the drive shaft for. the conveyor 3|. The drive mechanism for shaft 31 is not illustrated, but it may desirably be in all respects the same as the drive mechanism'for the v i corresponding shaft illustrated in Ser. No. 80,842. Briefly, two drives are provided from a common driving member to the shaft 31. One of these is a slow speed drive which runs constantly and which drives the shaft 31 at the speed determined by it when the high speed drive is not effective. When conditions require a speeding up of the conveyor 3|, an electromagnetically operated clutch is made efiective to render the high speed drive active. An over-running clutch between the low speed drive and the shaft 31 enables the shaft 31 at such times to run at a higher speed than that dictated by the low speed drive. In other words, the low speed drive is normally effective, but is superseded when the high speed driving clutch is thrown to effective position. As soon as thehigh speed driving clutch is withdrawn from the effective position, the low speed drive again becomes automatically effective. The function of the density meter to be described is to control the high speed driving clutch.

The density meter comprises a reflecting chimney 45 which includes two complementary parts 4| and 42. The part 42, in addition to its other functions, constitutes the carrier for the meter 43 as a whole. The chimney part 42 includes an extended bracket portion 43a. The portion 43a. is formed with a guide channel 44 which embraces 'a vertical rib 45 of a support 46. A screw 4? is passed through'a vertical slot 48 of the bracket portion 43a for securing the chimney upon the support 46 with capacity for vertical adjustment.

The support 46 'is formed with a horizontal channel which fits upon a horizontally extending guide bar 49. Theguide bar 49 is afiixed to the channel bar 34!: by screws 50. A screw 5| is passed through a horizontal slot 52 of the support 46 and is passed through the bar '49 and threaded into the channel bar 34a for securing the support 46 upon the channel bar with capacity for longitudinal, horizontal adjustment. Since the supporting bracket 43a of the meter 43 is normally mounted in a fixed position upon the support 46, adjustment of the support 46 carries with it the entire meter. The meter is also adjusted laterally by "and with channel bar 34a.

The chimney member 42 includes an external projection 63 upon which a light carrying bracket 54 is adjustably mounted. ;A screw 55 is passed through a slot 56 of the bracket 54 and is threaded into the projection 53. The bracket 54 at, its upper end is provided with a pair of sockets 56 in which light bulbs 51 are threaded. The light bulbs 51=constitute the source of light for the density meter. They are positioned above the lower edge of the stack and close to the side of the stack so thatlight from them can pass diagonally downward through the lower right-hand corner of the stack as seen'i'n Fig. 2 and into the chimney 46. The chimney members 4| and 42 are formed of metal and have opposed polished plane surfaces 58'and 59 which extend downward in slightly divergent relation and desirably so as to form equal angles with the vertical axis of the chimney. The members 4| and 42 meet in a common plane and are secured to one another by screwsfifl. The chimney is closed at its upper end by a beveled transparent disk 6| of glass or other suitable material, and the disk is surrounded and held'in place by a retaining ring 62, the ring being secured to the chimney member '42 by "screws63'.

The chimney members "4| and 42 are formed at their lower ends 'with horizontally extending eg seated flanges 64 andfl65 whose-lower faces are disposed in-:,ccplanar-relation. 1

A fitting 66 is secured to the; flange. tdrby a pair of screws 61. The upper face of the flitting 66 is generally fiat and lies in contact with the lower faces of the flanges B4 and 65. The fitting 56- includes a cylindrical casing member Eiii'in which a pronged, transparent tube 59 carrying the-photoelectric cell mechanism is received and protected; At the r-ear'end thefitting 5E incl-udes a web-portion lil which is connected by screws l! and 72-to=membersl3 and M which jointly form a housing for the electrical mechanism controlled by the photoelectric cell. The web portion iii carries a. socket in which the prongs of the photoelectric cell tube are inserted. Spring fingers 16 secured to the sides of the tubular housing 68 by screws Tl extend beyond the end of the housing 68 and act resiliently to hold a closure plug 18 removably in place.

The upper wall of the fitting (i5 is formed with an opening 19 in register with the chimney opening, through which light from the chimney may enter the tubular casing 68 to impinge upon the cathode of the photoelectric cell.

Provision is made of a light shield for blocking out from the photoelectric cell any desired proportion of the light transmitted by the chimney.

The horizontal web portion 89 of the fitting 6% is formed with a channel 8! in which a shield plate 82 is slidably mounted. The shield plate is formed with teeth 83 (Fig. 4) along its inner margin which may be projected across or part way across the opening 19.

A screw 84 is passed through a washer 85 and through an elongated slot 86 of the shield plate 82, and is threaded into the horizontal web 86 for clamping the shield plate 82 in different desired positions of adjustment. The outer end of the shield plate 82 is upturned to provide a convenient finger grip flange 81.

A similar shield plate 82a is similarly mounted in a groove Bla of horizontal web portion tile with capacity for longitudinal adjustment. Since the construction, operation and mounting of the slide 82a is the same as that of the slide 82, no detailed description will be given but the corresponding parts have been designated by the same reference characters with the subscript a added in each reference. The fingers 83 and 83a of the shield plates 82 and 8212 are arranged in staggered relation, the teeth of one plate being opposite the notches of the other.

With this arrangement the plates can be adjusted toward and into interdigital relation and can be brought as nearly into contact with one another as desired. In the opposite direction the adjustment may be carried so far that the point of the teeth lie clear of the opening F9.

The importance of the adjustable light shield lies in the fact that a desired stack density can be obtained with envelopes of any weight or thickness.

Let it be assumed that a run of envelopes of a given weight and thickness has been successfully dealt with and that it is now required to deal with envelopes which are twice as thick. The fact that the envelopes of the new lot are thicker does not mean that they should be more widely spaced apart than the envelopes of the previous lot. If the spacing is to be maintained the same as before, however, considerably less light will pass through the stack than before and it will. therefore, be necessary to separate the shield plates 82 and 82a so as to permit a considerably greater proportion of the lightwhich does pass through the stack to reachthe photoelectric cell. In other words, since the photoelectric'cell is arranged to trip the high speed clutchat a given light intensity, that light intensity should be made available to the cell substantially when the desired spacing occurs, whether th-e'envelopes dealtwith be thick or thin.

The chimney forms a convenient means for conducting the light from the lower edge of" the stack down to a photoelectric cell which is located within the lateral bounds of the'machine but be.- low th'e conveyor mechanism.

The fact that the chimney walls are made divergent enables the light which enters at the small upper end to be spread over the entire available area of the photoelectric cell at the lower end. It also tends to change the light rays as they are reflected back and forth, progressively toward parallelism, a condition which is desirable for causing the light shield to act in the most satisfactory manner.

The fact that the meeting plane of the chimney members 4| and 42 coincides with the reflecting circuits 59 of the member 32 is advantageous because of the ease with which an accurate fit can be securedand because the necessity for channeling or grooving the member 42 is obviated. It will be noted that the chimney, together with the fitting 53 and the housing M, M forms a complete dust-proof and moisture-proof enclosure for the reflecting surfaces of the chimney and for the photoelectric tube 69. Access to the tube 69 may be conveniently had, however, by removing the plug 18. The density meter can be removed in its entirety simply by withdrawal of the screw 51, whereupon the chimney member 4| can be detached simply by backing out the screws 68. Such detachment affords access to the polished surfaces of the members 41 and 42.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiments of my invention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an envelope feeder for advancing en-- velopes on edge in stack formation to a transfer point which includes mechanism for advancin the stack at varying speeds in order to secure the desired stack density near the transfer point; a density meter for controlling said mechanism comprising, in combination, a light source arranged to transmit light diagonally downward across a corner of the stack, a photoelectric cell for receiving said light and controlling said mechanism in accordance with the intensity of the light received, and a light shield adapted to be interposed more or less in the path of the light en route to the photoelectric cell, the shield including relatively adjustable members settable to control the proportion of light transmitted to that intercepted, so that desired stack densities may be secured through the action of the photoelectric cell for envelopes of different thicknesses.

2. In an envelope feeder for advancing envelopes on edge in stack formation to a transfer point which includes mechanism for advancing the stack at different speeds in order to secure a desired stack density near the transfer point; a density meter for controlling said mechanism comprising, in combination, a light sggrce arranged to transmit light diagonally downward acros a corner of the stack, a photoelectric cell for receiving said light and controlling said mechasemso aiiism in accordance with the intensity or the light received, a reflecting chimney for receiving light transmitted through the stack and reflecting it back and forth until it passes clear of the chimney and into the photoelectric cell, and a light shield adapted to be interposed more or less between the chimney and the photoelectric cell, the shield including a pair of plates having confronting toothed. edges, means supporting the plates for relative movement toward and from intel-fitting relation, and means for securing the plates in fixed positions.

ABRAHAM NOVICK.

REFERENCES CITEU The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,636,014 Robinson July 19, 1927 2,138,306 Patrick Nov. 29, 1938 2,220,737 Jones Nov. 5, 1940 2,301,401 Hennessy et a1. Nov. 10, 1942 2,425,950 Morrison Aug. 19, 1947 2,484,323 Sweet Oct. 11, 1949 

